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Northeast Georgia tent crusade wraps up today

The Northeast Georgia Tent Crusade wraps up tonight after three weeks of services. The tent is located in Statham. Submitted.

STATHAM — Tent revivals aren’t common these days, but that shouldn’t stop people from attending the last night of the Northeast Georgia Tent Crusade.

The Rev. Ralph Sexton, the head of Ralph Sexton Ministries, has led the prayer each night for three weeks in the huge tent stationed at the corner of Craft Road and Georgia Highway 316 in Statham.

“We’re getting Christians revived and we’re reaching out,” said the Rev. Ronnie Healan, the leader of Calvary Baptist Church in Statham.

Churches from across Northeast Georgia got together and agreed to host the tent crusade for their congregations and anyone else who wants to attend, Healan said. More than 30 churches helped put on the event.

A tent crusade is a part of Christianity’s spiritual heritage and shouldn’t be forgotten, he said.

“Years ago, a lot of churches would do what we’re doing now,” he said.

People have flocked to the Northeast Georgia Tent Crusade, said Bruce Page, who owns the land the tent stands on and has participated in every night’s services.

He sees the tent throughout the day and it’s a short walk to the evening’s 7:30 p.m. service.

“I look out my window every day and what a blessing (I see),” Page said.

More than 2,000 people have attended the church services every night, he said.

“I was blown away by the continuous — I mean day after day — attendance,” Page said.

The tent crusade welcomes everyone; people who attend to services regularly or those who haven’t been to church in years, Sexton said.

Sexton’s father was an evangelist who often preached out of tents.

“I grew up in the tent ministry,” he said.

Now, Sexton heads Trinity Baptist Church in Asheville, N.C., and conducts two or three tent crusades a year, he said.

Tent crusades are less formal than church services and the gathering really helps bring the Christian community together, he said.

“(People can come) get some shavings in their shoes and some joy in their hearts,” he said.